Charm
by Heliopatharmy
Summary: Bianca Scamander. The adopted Veela daughter of Luna and Rolf Scamander, baby sister to Lysander and Lorcan. Best friend and house mate to Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca. Everything Else is J.K Rowling's.**

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The once gentle breeze was turning into a blisteringly cold gale in its intensity and temperature.  
It was increasingly hard to hear what was being said by the two travellers as they trekked across the frostbitten fields somewhere in Western Europe.

The frozen grass crunched beneath the heavy boots their feet were clad in. And the couple both pulled their cloaks closer to themselves in a rather futile attempt to ward away the uncomfortable chill that was beginning to affect them.

In the distance a lone building stood out from the miles of open fields.  
As they neared the solitary structure more about the unknown became clear.

It was a small cottage which would have appeared cozy – if a little too cozy for comfort – if it had not been for the obvious years of neglect the place had suffered. The house was about to be completely disregarded and the expedition continued uninterrupted, when a faint cry was heard from inside the house.

With the slightest of hesitations, the smaller of the travellers pushed the door aside and entered the house.

Slumped against a tattered couch, the body of a young woman lay before them.

In her stiff arms a bundle of blankets was clutched tightly.  
Wide moist eyes blinked up at the female traveller from within the mound of bedding, almost engulfing the young face from view entirely.

With the bright blue eyes trained on her, the woman carefully retrieved the baby out from the body, expertly anticipating and comforting the child when she became startled at the sudden movement.

The child in question looked to be approximately a week old, judging by the size of the baby - meaning that she (as she was quickly confirmed to be female) must have been born in the first days of November.

After a diagnostic charm was cast over the mother, they found that it was about 2 hours previous that the woman had died, due to a number of reasons – the largest impact being from malnutrition and hypothermia.  
The diagnostic charm also confirmed what they had both suspected from the woman's features and delicate beauty, even in death – she was a Veela.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca. Everything Else is J.K Rowling's.**

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_10 Years Later_

Lysander Scamander woke up to the sight of his 10 year old sister standing in the doorway, holding something behind her back.  
Just as he was about to question her about what was going on, the significance of the day came rushing back to him. His face lit up with excitement, which was equally mirrored in his sister's features, the letters had arrived.

At long last, after months of anticipation, they were here. He silently cursed himself for forgetting such a day and for not being the one to thank that wonderful owl who delivered them. Leaping out of his bed and quickly clambering across the messy half of the room, also known as Lorcan's territory, he shook his twin awake. Lorcan blearily opened his eyes to see an identical pair staring down at him.

Lorcan groaned and turned away in an attempt to return to sleep but it was no use. When he had eventually sat up, Lysander was sitting on the edge of his bed completely engrossed in a letter. Lorcan's eyes widened and he looked around frantically for his own letter.  
Then he noticed his sister holding it, her initial excitement for her brothers was dimming and being replaced with wishing that she could join them on this new adventure.

He gathered her close to him in a hug and said "It'll be alright Bi, you will see. You'll be joining us in no time".

She replied "I know, I know. Sorry. Here's your letter." Trying not to seem too eager in front of Bianca, Lorcan slowly took the letter and opened it. He made sure to hold it in a way that Bianca could easily read over his shoulder and share the experience in some way with him.

When the three of them had each read the two letters over several times, they relocated to their parents' room to show them.

They all jumped on their father while their mother sat up serenely and laughed gently at the sight before her. A letter was quickly shoved into each parent's face and the children sat watching them read impatiently. Seeing this impatience Rolf Scamander decided to mess with his children by deliberately reading the letter as slowly as he possibly could.

Bianca, figuring out his plan, snatched the letter out of her father's hands and scowled at him. Dragging her brothers out of the bedroom; she commanded "Get dressed. I am leaving for Diagon Alley in 20 minutes".

Used to their daughter, and her antics, Luna and Rolf shared an amused look before getting ready. Needless to say within 15 minutes the entire family was ready to go. As they had learnt from previous experience that if they weren't Bianca wouldn't think twice about leaving without them.

While the twins stood by the fireplace waiting for Bianca to come down the stairs, they talked about what pet they were each going to get. As both Rolf and Luna thought that pets were less likely to be abused if the children only got them when they were older. So both boys were keen to get their first pet, that truly was their own, not just a family owl.  
It didn't help that the family owl, named Lethe, did not like either of them and would nip at their fingers if they got too close to her. The boys declared that it was unjustified spite on her part, but the rest of the family was well aware that Lethe had not forgotten the time when they poured honey all over her.

When Bianca joined the rest of them by the fireplace, Luna watched as her husband and children one by one stepped into the fire and vanished in a great burst of green flames.

Then she too stood in the centre of the large fireplace and threw floo powder down, shouting "Diagon Alley". And with a flash of green she disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca. Everything Else is J.K Rowling's.**

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A family of blonds were standing to the side of the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ inside of King's Cross station.

It had been many years since either of the adults had been to this particular platform, even though they had used the other platforms with muggle trains as transportation for their many expeditions in the past.

This meant that the excitement of the place was not lost on them – unlike many of the other parents present at the platform. But it was the children being introduced to this new location who were the most enthralled with it.

Lorcan however seemed less interested in his surroundings, unlike his entirely captivated twin beside him, and was instead more preoccupied with attempting to peer through the dense crowd for a familiar group of friends. This search was significantly helped by the distinct ginger hair that the large group primarily consisted of.

Bianca was the first to actually locate the group and quietly moved towards them, while her brothers were still looking around; she was focusing on one of few blonds in the throng of redheads.

She gently tapped the object of her focus, a tall 12 year old boy, who swiftly turned around to greet the younger girl.  
Grinning widely Louis Weasley grabbed the slight girl before him up in a hug, saying "Oh Bianca, I missed you".

"Surely you cannot have suffered too strongly; after all it has been under a week since I had to escort you to Diagon Alley as protection against the rather persistent ladies of Hogwarts." Bianca remarked.

"Well while it may be you defending me against hordes of women for now. I tell you that it shall soon be your time and I will end up being the one to beat the boys away from sweet innocent Bianca. After all I'm only one-eighth Veela while you have the whole package deal there belle." Laughed Louis.

Bianca snorted "I am quite certain that by the time there are boys to be beaten away, I shall be entirely capable of handling such matters on my own thank you very much"

"As true as that may be, I believe that instead of simply warding them off you are rather more likely to have them living up for chores to do for her highness." Louis teased. "Also, based on the amount of stares you are receiving at this very moment, I don't think that you'll be left waiting for attention at any time, let alone when you get older."

Bianca, at this statement, looked around and for the first time really noticed how people were looking at her. For while none of these people thought of her romantically, due to her age, it was still clear to even the most oblivious of observers that the entire crowd noticed her blossoming beauty.  
For the almost unnatural charm that the young Bianca possessed was visible even now. With her sleek golden-white hair hanging just past her narrow shoulders and bright azure eyes, combined with her porcelain skin made a near ethereal vision to those around her.

"Oh do be quiet Louis. Anyway shouldn't you be putting your trunk on the train by now?" Said Bianca. For it was true that most of the other students had already placed their trunks on-board and were all saying their final goodbyes before getting on the train themselves. Bianca could see Lysander trying to pull Lorcan away from Fred Weasley and James Potter, Lorcan's best friends, long enough for the twins to say their goodbyes to their family.

After giving Louis a big hug once more and wishing him the best of luck for the coming year, Bianca hurried over to her parents. Both of her brothers immediately crowded her hugs, saying how very much they would miss her.  
When her parents made a rather futile attempt to discourage Lorcan from getting into trouble at Hogwarts, Bianca stayed quiet for she knew her brother far too well to even consider attempting such a task.

So as the train slowly pulled away from the platform the only words of advice coming from the slim silver-haired Veela was "Oh Lorcan, do try not to get caught."And with these parting words, the scarlet steam train departed from the station once more towards an old castle in the Scottish highlands.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca. Everything Else is J.K Rowling's.**

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_1 year later_

Amongst the groups of families bustling between the various different shops that made up Diagon Alley, a lone girl stood out.

She didn't appear to have anyone accompanying her, unlike the majority of others there that day, yet she seemed to be completely comfortable with her surroundings and not nervous in her isolation.  
With a natural innate grace and posture, which few truly possessed, she skilfully navigated her way through the crowd while managing to minimise the amount of attention that she was receiving.

For over the past year, Bianca had managed to persuade her mother to allow her to meet with other Veelas so that she could learn more about her heritage and what it meant to be a Veela. One definite advantage of this knowledge is that she now had a much greater control over her allure and so could use it as she pleased, whether to focus or to diminish its effects somewhat.

As she entered Flourish and Blotts, she looked around for the corresponding sections for each of the books in her list. Once her bag was sufficiently stuffed with those that were needed for each of her different subjects, from transfiguration to potions, she made her way out of the shop.

Her next destination in her trip was to Madam Malkin's.

Due to her parents' expeditions and the various resources required for said expeditions, Bianca was rather well acquainted with Diagon Alley and with many of the owners of the assorted businesses.  
Combining this with her families connection to the famous elite of the wizarding world, better known to her as the 'Wotter clan' etc. Bianca was forced to endure a long-winded conversation with Madam Malkin about what her and her family had been up to, and to listen to the woman's nostalgic anecdotes about her parents.

By the time she had eventually escaped Bianca hurriedly made her way over to Ollivander's.

Outside of the store in question, there was a small group of boys, all appearing to be about Bianca's age and looked as though they were waiting for one of their friends while he got his wand. As she moved closer to them, her presence was noticed and they stared almost entranced at her. Seeing that the boys' friend was still being served, Bianca entered the shop.  
Standing to the side, Bianca was hoping that she would be protected somewhat from any unexpected mishaps with the extra distance between her and the potentially hazardous results of wand choosing.

The three boys that had been outside, in a rather unsubtle attempt to capture Bianca's attention, noisily re-entered the shop; saying to their friend that they had been getting too cold standing outside.

Then the bravest of the bunch, cockily went across the shop to her, dodging a box which had flung itself towards his head in response to yet another wand rejecting his friend.  
At this sight Bianca started laughing, and despite the fact that she was in fact laughing at him rather than with him, he looked pleased with himself when he heard her laughter; while his other friends watched him enviously.

"Hello there, I'm Noel." He drawled.

"Bianca" was the reply.  
"Well, the shy idiots over there are Carlos, Roger and Corey. While the dimwit who was attempting to decapitate me was Lyle" he told her jokily.

Still laughing she said "We should keep an eye out for possible decapitation around here, seems pretty dangerous".

"I shall protect you from the dangers of any flying boxes my lady" Noel declared.

"Well then I may well hold you to that Noel". With that she moved over to the counter as the boy called Lyle had finally bought his wand.

While Bianca began to be measured by an enchanted tape measure; a grinning Noel had to be forcefully dragged away by his friends.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca. Everything Else is J.K Rowling's.**

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An exceedingly long hour then passed in that store, with Bianca managing to explode the majority of the various objects around her.

Eventually Ollivander abandoned his attempts to find her a wand and instead suggested that it might be her veela heritage that was making the process unsuccessful.

As while it was possible for pure-blooded Veelas to have and use wands, they rarely did. Instead they usually just made use of the wandless magic they naturally possessed as magical creatures.

Because of this, he recommended that she donated one of her hairs and with it he would personally make a wand for her. All she then needed to do was figure out which type of wand wood was best suited to her, so Bianca was shown the way into the workshop behind the main shop area.

As then was instructed, Bianca let her hand hover of the many different types of wand wood. She found that she was drawn to a piece of wood that was a pale white with a light purple centre.

Picking the piece up, she asked "This is it. What kind of wood is this?". Ollivander announced that it was Lilac wood and informed her that it was particularly good for charms.

"Your wand will be ready in a few days. Come back here and fetch it" He said.

"Thank you Mr Ollivander, it's really nice of you to go to all the bother of making my wand specially" Bianca declared.

He explained that he thought it was the least he could do to repay her mother for the help she gave to him during the war. Bianca was somewhat surprised as mum never really mentioned the war much, so she didn't know very much about what her mother's role had been.  
All that she knew was that her mother had been part of the DA, and had fought in a number of different battles over the course of the war.

But she didn't show her shock outwardly, and instead – after thanking Ollivander once more – simply exited the shop carrying her previous purchases.  
As she walked over towards Fortescue's, she wondered about what exactly her mother had done during the war to help Mr Ollivander. But when she neared the ice cream parlour her attention was distracted away from these thoughts by calls of her name.

Louis was becoming her over to the table at which he sat, with one of his many cousins – the cousin in question was Molly Weasley – and his older sister Dominique.  
"Finally, how could you ignore me of all people? Shocking. Sit yourself down Belle, I'll go get it." Louis commanded her.

"Oh sorry Louis, I was lost in thought. But you must know that it is only too easy to overlook you. I mean it's not as though you are well known or easily distinguishable or anything like that." Bianca teased.

Shaking his head in mock disgust, Louis wandered away towards the counter.

"It is good to see you both again. I haven't seen you guys since Christmas." Bianca said.

"Yeah. We have all missed you Bianca. Weren't you off visiting Veelas?" questioned Molly.

"I was. In fact I went to see some of your Veela relatives about a month ago, Dom" Bianca said.

"Oh that's cool. Well I'm glad that you were actually away or I would have had to kick your arse for avoiding us." Dom warned "Do you have any idea how moany Louis has been these past few months because he wasn't able to see you all summer? I'm so glad that you are coming to Hogwarts this year, that way it's you that he will be annoying all year."

"Louis could never annoy me" Bianca replied just as Louis returned to the table.

"Are you girls discussing how wonderful I am again? As the answer is very, in case you were wondering." Louis declared.

"I stand corrected" Bianca said, making the girls all laugh.

"Oi, if I'm so annoying then perhaps I shall simply eat all of this lovely honeycomb ice-cream up myself." Louis retorted.

Bianca just ignored his words, and plucked the ice cream out of his hands before he could stop her.

"So, where is your next stop on your to-do-list that I know you have planned out in that head of yours?" Louis asked.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes actually, to see some more of your many cousins and probably find my brother in there somewhere. And of course, to stock up on supplies for the coming pranking season. After all it is first year, I need to make an impression." Bianca said, grinning.

"To be honest I really doubt that you will need any assistance in making a suitably large impression on the rest of the school. I don't believe that Hogwarts has had a pure-blood Veela enrolled for hundreds of years at the least." Louis said.

"Yeah well, I don't believe that very many pure-blood Veelas are brought up in wizarding communities rather than in Veela communities." Bianca retorted. "Anyways, I really should go and see if I can find that brother of mine. As I have completely forgotten what time I am meant to be meeting everyone later. I'll see you all tomorrow at the Burrow. Bye guys."

After hugs all around and goodbyes, Bianca walked away from three Weasleys and towards the pranking shop where four more Weasleys, a Potter and one half of the Scamander twins were.

Ignoring the people, mainly boys, who looked up and gazed after her as she strode past them, Bianca went into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. In her opinion it was and has always been one of her favourite shops in Diagon Alley, the fact that it was always so much more interesting, colourful and altogether more wacky than the other stores helped form this opinion. Also the name was a large contributing factor in this, even if it was a little bit of a mouthful to say and wasn't particularly easy to shorten in any way.

As she made her way over towards the counter, Bianca spotted her brother Lorcan's partners' in crime and knew that he himself wouldn't be very far away. Standing behind the pair of troublemakers, Bianca reached up to tap the shorter of the two on his shoulder – for even though he was smaller than the boy next to him it wasn't by a significant amount and so he was still quite a bit taller than Bianca, especially as both boys were a year older than her.

James Potter turned around and without looking snapped "For the last bloody time, I am not going to give anyone an autograph!" Recognising her he quickly apologised saying "Oh Bianca, I didn't realise it was you. Sorry, I've been being hounded all day."

"It's okay James, I guess I'll get that autograph I was so looking forward to another day. Don't worry." Bianca mocked.

"Ah, it's great to have you back Bianca. I do need someone to help me gang up on James, it's just not as fun otherwise." Fred said laughing.

"Oi, you have me don't you? Also if you plan to replace me with my little sister you could at least wait until I'm not here" Called Lorcan as he walked over to the group.

"What happened to being my friends, huh? No more of this ganging up on James business. It simply isn't nice." Said James.

Ignoring James, Bianca turned to her older brother asking "When are we meant to meet mum, dad and Lysander at the Leaky Cauldron again?"

"Think it was about 5." Lorcan said while glancing at his watch. "Which means that we have to be there in like 20 minutes or so."

"Seriously. Damn, I haven't even got everything yet. Do you think I'll be allowed to come back here in a couple of days?" Bianca questioned anxiously.

"Bi, when you do your puppy dog eyes no one can manage to say no to you. I am certain that mum and dad will cave and let you come back. Just like they did this morning when you insisted on shopping on your own. You know how keen dad in particular was to 'experience' this with you. Not that they didn't get to do the exact same thing last year, but they think they need to make it 'special' for you." Lorcan said.

"Thanks Lorcan, I just need to grab a few extendable ears and I might have a quick look around. As I haven't had a chance to visit here in a while." Said Bianca. She then wandered around the shop, browsing the various products. Eventually choosing some Decoy detonators and some Peruvian instant darkness powder along with the extendable ears, she went over to the till.

"Hello George. Quite busy today I see. How is business going?" she asked as she placed the objects on the counter.

"Afternoon Bianca, you're right it is going well today. Not too much to worry about here thankfully. Everyone, just like what you seem to be doing, is stocking up for the new school year. Let the mayhem commence, I say." George Weasley replied as he added up Bianca's purchases. "That will be a galleon, 3 sickles and 10 knuts."  
As Bianca took out the currency from her bag, he said "I suppose I will be seeing you again at the Burrow next week for the traditional sending off."

"Yep you will. Thanks George. See you then." Bianca said turning away.

When she once again found her older brother, she dragged him off towards the Leaky Cauldron with her to meet with their parents.  
When they had gone through the stone gateway and back into the pub, Bianca greeted her parents' and her other brother Lysander. "Hello everyone. Mum, I haven't managed to get everything I wanted, so are you okay with me coming back again in a day or two. I mean I haven't even got an owl yet, I can't go off to Hogwarts without one." Bianca begged.

"Well I don't think that you have to worry too much about getting yourself an owl." Rolf said as he lifted a bird cage up from underneath the table. Revealing, as he did so, the owl that was within it to Bianca. The bird's feathers were almost identical to the colour of Bianca's own hair, and so managed to somewhat resemble her. "She is your sending off present. I hope you don't mind not getting to choose your own owl, but she seemed so perfect. I just couldn't resist." Rolf said smiling.

"Of course I don't mind, she's gorgeous. I love her, thank you so much." Replied Bianca happily.

"What do you think you will call her, Bianca?" questioned Lysander.

"I think that I will call her Silvia" Bianca said after a moment of deliberation. "Also I absolutely have to return to Diagon Alley in a few days as Mr Ollivander is making me a wand using one of my hairs as the core. Because all of the other wands didn't choose me, I spent so long trying what must have been hundreds of different wands! And he said that my wand would be ready in a few days and that I should come back to pick it up from his store."

"Well as you really need to, you can come back in a few days. I'm sure we will discover a few things that we should have picked up today anyways." Replied Luna. "Come on, let's get back home now."

With this command from their mother, each of the Scamander children got up and one by one flooed out of the Leaky Cauldron back to their house. They were then followed by their parents.


	6. Chapter 6

_Just over a week later on the 31__st__ of August_

Rolf Scamander side-along apperated with his twin sons to the grassy fields that bordered onto the family home of the Weasleys, the Burrow.  
The house itself was still as topsy-turvy as always, but now appeared significantly less run down than it did a couple of decades ago.  
This was due to new coats of paint and various repairs that had reinforced the different parts of the house.

A loud pop signalled the arrival of both Luna and Bianca behind them. After glancing back at his wife and daughter, Rolf led the group towards the house.

When they knocked upon the door they were greeted by an elderly Molly Weasley becoming them into her home. As they crossed the threshold, the sheer volume of the many people already within the house surrounded them. Each of the children grinned at the welcoming noise, as they all loved the Burrow for its loud uncontrollable chaos and all of the entertaining people that were held within it.

Almost immediately the twins and Bianca discarded their parents and ran off to find where it was the other children were. Unsurprisingly most of the children had found semi-privacy away from their parents and the other adults at the far end of the garden.  
Each of the Scamander siblings went over to join their closest friends.  
For Lysander that was Rose Weasley, one of the few others in the group who generally preferred books to pranks – therefore making her both a friend and a well needed ally of the Ravenclaw twin.  
For Lorcan that was the aforementioned troublemakers and pranksters, Freddie and James.  
And for Bianca that was primarily Louis and then Molly II and Dom.

Aside from the children of the various Weasley siblings, there were a fair number of children there who were simply family friends opposed to blood relations. The three Scamanders were some of these children along with Neal and Adelle Longbottom, Shane Jordan, Jasper, Leah and Grace Thomas, Liam and Cara Finnigan and Rhea Morello – Alicia Morello's (nee. Spinnet) daughter.

Leah, Grace and Cara were all five years older and were going into their sixth year at Hogwarts. Adelle and Jasper were two years older than Bianca, in Louis and Molly's year. Shane was in the same year as Freddie, James and the Scamander twins, as he was a year older than her. Liam and Neal were in Bianca's year, while Rhea was a year younger than Bianca.

Bianca was very glad that she would have at least four people she already knew in her year; as well as Liam and Neal, both Rose and Albus were going into their first year. And not only would she know a few people in her own year, but she already knew five of her teachers – Shane's dad, Neal and Adelle's dad, Hagrid, Professor McGonnagal and Katie Bell were all friends of the family who taught at Hogwarts - and a rather large number of students in the years above her.  
All of these things meant that Bianca was not nervous about the coming year and was instead gleefully looking forward to what was to come.

An hour or so later, they were all called inside for another one of Molly Weasley's famous feasts. With the addition of quite so many people to these dinners a new dining room had been separated from the kitchen area, thus allowing more space for the gigantic table – which did occupy almost the entire room – to hold the huge groups that would settle down around it (on this particular occasion the number of people ended up being around 50 people).  
Despite the fact that the sight, of the almost comically large table being nearly completely obscured by the mountain of dishes and creaking with the weight, was a regular occurrence Bianca couldn't help but be astounded once more by the sheer volume and quantity of the food present.

The meal then passed with lots of loud conversations all at the same time and many different people attempting to speak over others. It was very entertaining to observe, and as that was exactly what Bianca was doing she struggled to contain her laughter.

When the main courses had been consumed and the last of the dessert was being eagerly polished off, Molly Weasley stood at the head of the table with her husband beside her.  
"Well once again it has come to the time of year to send off the older children to Hogwarts and wish them well. Along with the current students present, this year five more of our group are heading off to truly begin their magical education. So to Albus, Rose, Liam, Neal and Bianca I wish you all good luck. I'm sure you all will have lots of fun starting your studies." Molly cheerfully declared. In response to the speech there were many shouts of "Good Luck" and the younger children all looked put out that it wasn't their turn quite yet.

The Weasley matriarch then cleared the table of any remaining food and dishes with a simple flick of her wand – much to the distress of her youngest son who had been eating the very last of a trifle only to have it disappear.

Bianca ended up being questioned extensively by a number of adults and children on the type of wand she had got – which she had picked up from Ollivanders just two days previously. In the end she simply resorted to handing her wand around and declaring its wood and core types to the group at large to avoid constantly repeating herself.

She noticed that the other four children her age were all going through the same interrogation process.  
She also knew that it was only a matter of time before the adults began to argue about where they believed each child would be sorted – that is she thought if they hadn't already began doing so. As each year at this same sending off party at the Burrow they had the same routine – thankfully the insanity and eccentricity of the company prevented any meeting with them from being boring or too similar.

After another couple of hours, Luna and Rolf decided that it was time for them and their children to return to their own house. As there were quite a few things which still needed to be packed before the train ride the following day.  
A number of the other families had already departed and those that were still remaining weren't planning to stay for much longer either.

So, after dragging their children away from their friends and appeasing them with reminders that they would be seeing them all the very next day, the couple travelled once more to just past the boundary of the Weasley wards. Reaching the apparition point, Luna took the twins hands while Rolf took Bianca's and both parents apperated back to their home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I only own Bianca and my OCs. Everything else is J.K's **

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The next day Bianca found herself walking along down the currently deserted hallway of the steam train better known as the Hogwarts Express, to try to find Neal and the others.

For Bianca had decided that morning that the best way to get a decent compartment and to avoid the crowds of people was to get on the train promptly and so before the other students still chatting on the platform.  
Just before she got onto the train she found that Albus had had the same thought and so had taken Neal with him just a few minutes previous to commandeer a compartment for them all.

Pausing outside the compartment that she found both boys sitting in, she entered it and then closed the door gently behind her. Sitting down next to Neal, she simply grinned at the boys for the sheer level of happiness she felt knowing that she was getting to go to Hogwarts completely overcame any other worries present.

Albus smiled back at her and informed her that the first 'scandal' of the year had already happened as James had caught Teddy and Victore kissing. She then broke into laughter at the fact that James had actually interrupted the pair by asking them what exactly they were doing, for it was so completely like James to do something along those lines.

By this point, Bianca could hear the sound of the other students boarding the train with their friends and occupying the other compartments.

For the next half an hour quite a few people opened the doors of their compartment and then awkwardly excused themselves when they found the three first years already sitting there.  
During these encounters Bianca had to endure being stared at and once that ceased. Albus ended up being asked for an autograph while Neal simply sat there near the window content to be ignored somewhat in these situations.  
Amongst the various strangers that mistakenly entered the compartment, they were also joined by both Liam and Rose who stayed in with them – thankful for the company of friends that were their own age.

As while each of these five first years were friends with some of the older children of the 'Wotter' clan, all of these older friends were busy reuniting with their classmates and so the first years didn't wish to intrude.

So the five of them began to talk about the classes at Hogwarts, and soon the conversation turned to the same topic that the adults had been discussing the previous evening – The Sorting.

Rose declared that, despite the fact that she was well aware that her father was looking for her to be in Gryffindor like the majority of the Weasley's in the past, she was planning on being a Ravenclaw.  
And when questioned on what her mother's opinion was, she said that Hermione didn't mind which house she was in and that apparently her mother almost was sorted into Ravenclaw herself – which to anyone who knew of Hermione's intelligence and thirst for knowledge didn't come as too much of a surprise.

Neal said that he didn't really mind too much where he went; though he would prefer to be in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. But that he thought that Hufflepuff was his favourite of the two. And even though his father was head of Gryffindor house, Neville wasn't obsessed with the idea of him being a Gryffindor and would be perfectly happy with him being in his mother's old house of badgers.

Liam believed that, like both of his parents and his older sister before him, that he would be best suited to the house of the lions.

When Bianca told the group that she didn't want to be where everyone said she would end up in Ravenclaw joining Lysander and following both Rolf and Luna. And that instead she thought that she should be in Slytherin the others were shocked into silence.  
For it had been the assumption for years that due to her intelligence and how logical she was, Bianca would be in House Ravenclaw.

In a small voice Albus said that he thought she would be great in Slytherin.  
And comforted by her confession he revealed that despite the fact that he had denied it when his brother had taunted him in the past. That he too thought that Slytherin was his true house not Gryffindor like his brother, parents and grandparents.  
And that the main reason why he had gotten upset at James saying so was that he believed that his parents would be disappointed in him if he was to become a Slytherin. But that was not the case as Albus told them that just a while earlier on the platform his dad had told him how the Great Harry Potter, the Saviour and Golden Boy of the wizarding world was almost sorted into Slytherin – the supposedly dark and evil house.

After a moment, the other three overcame their shock and reassured Albus and Bianca that they would support them and that no one would be prejudged against them for their house or else have them to answer to.

A few minutes later they all noticed that while they were distracted, by various declarations of which house each person in the carriage wished to be in, the Hogwarts Express had left London entirely and was currently in the middle of the English countryside.

After a while of the compartments' occupants either reading, taking the welcome opportunity for some extra sleep or simply staring out of the window – watching the world go by – Louis interrupted the calm.  
He claimed that they had all had Bianca for far too long and so it was time for him to steal her away from them all. As he took her back to his compartment, which Bianca assumed would contain Molly II and Dom amongst some of Louis other friends.

When Bianca entered the compartment after Louis, the other third years present – other than Molly and Dom – looked surprised to see a first year joining them. As it was a sort of unspoken rule that year groups sat separately from one another where possible and only occasionally did family members sit with their relatives of different ages.  
Therefore, when a slight clearly Veela girl entered the compartment after Louis the instant assumption was that she was related to him.

Karl Redford – one of Louis' roommates - asked "So Louis is this a Veela cousin of yours who you've been hiding away from us all?"

"Not at all Karl. This is Bianca Scamander. She's the sister of the Scamander twins in the year below. But you must admit there is a striking resemblance. What do you think Belle, can I pass you off as my baby sis?" Louis replied.

"Actually I have to say that, no offense guys, but she is clearly more than an eighth Veela like you and Dom. But I didn't think that the Scamander twins were Veela?" Karl wondered.

"My brothers aren't Veela, I'm adopted. And it's nice to meet you Karl" Bianca said.

The other girl in the compartment chimed in questioning "So, not to be rude, but how much Veela blood do you have? As I've only met the three Weasleys who are an eighth and I must agree with Karl. I'm Sofia Lucas by the way."

"You are right Sofia; I'm not an eighth Veela. I am a full blooded Veela." Said Bianca

Both Karl and Sofia were surprised at this piece of information, as neither of them had heard of a full-blooded Veela being raised in wizarding community or attending a wizarding school such as Hogwarts. So to actually meet a full-blooded Veela was unexpected to say the least.

Recovering from his surprise Karl said "Well you definitely look the part of a full-blooded Veela" while winking at Bianca.  
Bianca simply laughed this off, while Louis glowered at his friend.

The rest of the train ride passed in relative peace, with Bianca chatting to both Sofia and Karl; As she hadn't really met them before and was keen to get to know Louis' other friends.

The only interruptions were the occasional visits of various people wishing to see if the rumour of a Veela first year being on board was true. In the end they were compelled to lock the compartment door to avoid the pestering of the other students.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, everything is J.K Rowling's.**

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As the steam train pulled into Hogsmead station, the students on board placed their muggle clothes away after changing into their robes.

Bianca was dressed in a plain black rode with only a crest of Hogwarts on it for now, a white blouse, black skirt and a colourless tie.  
The others were all dressed similarly – the only difference being that they had their house crests on their robes and their ties were their house colours. Therefore Louis, Karl and Sofia all had blue and bronze ties and the Ravenclaw eagle on their robes, while Molly and Dom had red and gold ties and the Gryffindor Lion on their robes.  
Louis then led the way out of the train onto the platform with the others behind him, leaving their trunks on the train – as they had been directed to do so by a bodiless voice that had echoed through the train.

Once on the Hogsmead platform, after receiving words of comfort from Louis, Molly, Dom, Karl and Sofia, Bianca walked off towards the huge bearded half-giant who was calling out for first years to come over to him.

"Hello Hagrid" Bianca greeted, as mutual friends of the 'Wotters' they had met several times over the years.

"Hey there Bianca." He said cheerfully, oblivious to the cold that was affecting all the others on the small platform.

Due to Hagrid's distinctive height and loud calls, Bianca was soon joined by firstly the four first years that she knew and then by all those that she did not.

"I thought that we had lost you for certain there Bianca. Louis didn't seem keen to let you out of his sight." Liam joked when he reached Bianca's side.

"Hmm, yeah it does seem as though Louis believes that it isn't enough for me to already have two protective older brothers. I clearly am in need of a protective honorary older brother as well. It's dreadful." Bianca said grimacing.

Hagrid then directed them along a narrow and rather steep path which was slippery and so the children were forced to carefully hold onto each other to avoid falling over. As they rounded a sudden bend in the path they all gasped in awe, breaking the silence which they had held while attempting to remain upright down the slope.  
They were greeted with the sight of a still dark lake stretching out before them and on the other side of the water was an immense castle, which certainly lived up to fairy-tale castles with its tall turrets and spindly towers, and was perched upon the side of a mountain.

After allowing them a minute to gaze up at the castle Hagrid noisily cleared his throat, thus gaining their attention once more, and gestured at a number of boats resting on the very edge of the lake's smooth surface.  
As they were told, three students entered each boat, with Hagrid sitting in the biggest boat by himself.

Albus, Liam and Neal all went together, leaving Bianca and Rose in a boat with a short brunette boy. When they all were seated the enchanted rowboat began to travel silently across the black lake, which still managed to remain motionless and still despite the many boats moving across it.

The boy then nervously introduced himself as Nathan Carlson and explained to them that he was a muggleborn. Both Rose and Bianca were relieved and grateful at this piece of information – as they welcomed any opportunity to avoid their inherited 'celebrity' status. Although Bianca still had to endure his awed gaze upon her, as Nathan seemed to alternate between looking up at the castle ahead in amazement and staring at Bianca in a rather similar manner.

As they moved towards the castle it appeared as though the boats were simply going to crash into the cliff face above which the castle lay. Almost as if in answer to their silent fears, Hagrid called out "Heads down" and none dared to hesitate at or second guess the command.  
Peaking up, while still ensuring that her head wasn't going to smash against the rock face, Bianca saw that the wide opening in the cliff face they were currently travelling through had been previously obscured by a dense screen of ivy.

When the boats eventually reached a sort of subterranean harbour, all of the children disembarked and followed the half-giant through a tunnel that led out onto grass directly in front of the castle. They then trooped wearily up a giant flight of stone steps and huddled around a large oak door. With the eyes of the first years upon him, Hagrid raised his fist to the wood and rapped it sharply.

The noise echoed for a minute before the door swung inwards.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's.**

**AN: Hey guys. I am planning to post every four days if possible. Thanks for all the views and any reviews are much appreciated. **

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The man standing in the doorway opened the door wider in order to allow the children and Hagrid past.

He introduced himself as Professor Lima, Head of Slytherin House and the Astronomy teacher at Hogwarts. He was tall and had short dark brunette hair and an air of intelligence surrounded him.

Hagrid then hastily entered the great hall, through yet another enormous wooden door – Bianca did notice that the castle did seem to favour medieval décor and style - thus allowing time for the older students to settle down somewhat.  
They were told that they would be sorted into one of the four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, based upon their personalities. And that the others in their year of the same house would be their dorm mates and classmates.  
After a short lecture on rule breaking resulting in loss of house points, the house cup and achievements earning house points, they were led into the hall.

Suddenly all eyes were upon the rather terrified first years. They had to walk down the centre of the great hall with two long tables of students on either side of their procession down the aisle. When they reached the end of the hall they were ushered into a huddle on their right hand side.

Directly in front of the middle of the teacher's table and in clear view of the entire hall was a grubby looking pointed hat seated on a small wooden stool.

The sorting hat.

Once the chatter coming from the other students had died down once more this seemingly nondescript and dirty looking hat began to sing. The contents of the song were recognized by Bianca to be quite similar to what she had been told about the hat's songs in her parents' time. The main difference that she could distinguish was that the message wasn't foreboding or warning as it had been before, and so the hat didn't feel the need in peacetime to preach about the perils of war in the same way.

Professor Lima took out a large scroll of parchment out of his pocket, unrolled it and clearly read the name "Lavina Alderton" off it. A girl from the group walked over to the stool, after a short moment's hesitation. The professor lifted the hat off of the chair and once the girl had sat down he placed the hat on top of her deep chestnut coloured hair. A minute of painstaking silence commenced before Lavina was declared to be a "SLYTHERIN". She was greeted by cheers from the students seated at the far table on the left.  
After Lavina, Bianca vaguely registered that a boy called Jack Belby became a Ravenclaw and that someone named Peter Deverill was placed into Hufflepuff. But after the first three she simply zoned out, something that most of the other first years were also doing during the long and rather boring process.

She only snapped out of her daydreams when she noticed that Liam had been called up. Almost immediately the hat called out "GRYFFINDOR" and Liam leaped off of the stool, returned the hat, and nearly ran over to the lion's table in his joy – much to the amusement of the older students. Bianca could see Liam sitting down beside Lorcan and by James and Freddie, and being heavily congratulated by the boys. She joined in with the applause loudly and grinned brightly in Liam's direction.

She then continued her pattern of only truly paying attention to the sorting ceremony when one of her friends were sorting. So by the times that the hat had reached the surnames beginning with 'S' and a girl called Jacquelyn Salone had just been called up and was making her way towards the hat, Bianca had witnessed the sortings of Neal and Albus into Hufflepuff and Slytherin respectively.  
In the case of Albus' sorting she had been the first to break the shocked silence that had filled the hall with her enthusiastic congratulations – which thankfully were then loudly echoed by not just the Slytherin table but also by Albus' relatives dotted around the hall.

Suddenly Bianca was once again jerked out of her thoughts by Professor Lima saying "Bianca Scamander". She waited a moment for the boy in front of her to step aside and then she went over and sat down on the stool, receiving the hat off of Professor Lima and placed it on her own head.  
"OH. This is new. A Veela. How exciting. Even the half-blood Veela usually end up at Beaubatons aside of the recent Weasley's of course. Now were to put you. You certainly have the mind for Ravenclaw. But you more ambitious than that and not afraid to use your talents to your advantage. With all that cunning and determination I say. SLYTHERIN"  
Smiling widely Bianca leaped off and handed the Professor the hat back. She almost skipped over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Albus and the other first years.

Bianca recognized the girl sitting diagonally across from her as Lavina Alderton, who was the first to be called up, and the girl sitting next to Lavina as Jacquelyn Salone – who had been called just before Bianca was. There were three boys and one girl who all then introduced themselves to Bianca. Two blondes called Scorpius Malfoy – who Bianca recalled Rose's dad warning Rose away from for some reason or another – and Darrick Goldstein. The other boy was called Rhett Ellwood and he had light brown hair and a very slightly crooked nose.  
The girl introduced herself as Nina Odell and was very bubbly and chatty.

Once the sorting had finished, with Rose being a Ravenclaw and the Slytherin's gaining a tall black haired girl called Moria Zabini, Bianca then realized that the hat had truly taken their wishes into account – just as Albus had claimed. For each of the five first years had been sorted exactly how they had said they wished to be during the train ride.  
Well it was either that or they were all unknowingly excellent seers – something that Bianca doubted was correct.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's **

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Once the feast had ended, the prefects for each house called their first years to them.  
Bianca and the other Slytherin first years were all gathered around their prefect.  
"Come on first years this way to the Slytherin common room." He said as he led them down some stone steps away from the other groups of students who were mainly heading up different flights of stairs. "Our common room is down in the dungeons. And you shouldn't tell other houses about where it is and never tell them the password."

As they went down the stairs the air got steadily colder.  
Eventually they reached a seemingly nondescript stretch of stone wall and halted in front of it.  
He said "Try not to forget the location of the door, as we don't advertise the entrance with an obvious portrait like the other houses do."  
"If need be you can use this to help you tell which bit of wall it is." He said gesturing to a small elegant S engraved into a brick in the wall directly opposite to the hidden entrance.

He then turned to the blank side of wall once again and clearly said "Anguis." Instantly the wall opened inwards allowing them entry. "This will be your password for the first term of the year and you will be informed of the new password on your return after the Christmas holidays. If you forget the password then you should find one of our prefects or another of your housemates."  
He then stood to the side of the opening to allow the first years past him, and followed the last one in afterwards.

Bianca looked around the room which was lit with large hanging lanterns which made flickering patterns of light on the walls and on the faces of the people within. There was a large glass window on one side of the room which confirmed the suspicion that the Slytherin common room was underneath the black lake by giving them a clear view of the bottom of said lake.

"Okay, the girls dormitories are to the right and the boys are to the left. There is a sign on each of the doors saying the year group and the first door is the one for the first years. Your luggage has already been placed in your room by the house elves." The prefect said while indicating the corridors which lead off to the right and the left of the main common room area.

All of the first years went off to see their new rooms and to claim beds etcetera.  
Looking around the girls' dorm, Bianca was silently thankful for whoever had the insight to install a large bathroom which had five separate shower cubicles – one for each girl. She didn't want to have the stereotypical daily fight over the shower every morning for the next seven years of school, so the showers were much appreciated.

Each of their trunks had been placed at the end of a bed and none of the girls wanted to attempt to move the heavy objects just to change which of the identical beds they would sleep in. They all decided that it was more trouble than it was worth to move their belongings. So Bianca ended up with the bed that was adjacent to Jacquelyn's and Moria's beds, while Nina was next to Moria and Lavina was on the other side of Jacquelyn.

Slumping down onto her bed, Bianca admired the soft silk bedding which was in elegant Slytherin colours – like most of the other things in their common room – cool metallic silver and glittering emerald.

With the thought that she would finish unpacking her things the next morning, Bianca decided to just change into her pyjamas. After doing so, she said goodnight to each of her roommates and curled up underneath the plush sheets; holding the thick winter duvet close to her chest, she soon fell asleep.

_The next morning_

As morning approached, the charmed ceiling light gradually became brighter in an imitation of the sun. Looking up at it from her bed, Bianca supposed that the charm upon it was a sort of simplified version of the one that the ceiling of the great hall had upon it. She then thought that although the light was useful and quite practical, it could be rather unpleasant when wishing to lie in on a weekend.  
Realising that she should probably be following her roommates examples of getting ready for the first day of lessons; Bianca got up and dressed after a quick shower – making sure to not allow herself to stay under the inviting hot water all day long.

Bianca ran a brush through her hair and joined her roommates in going up to have breakfast.  
On entering the great hall, Bianca led the small group to a spot in the centre of the Slytherin table a few spaces away from the first year boys, who were already busy digging into the large spread of food that was laid out before them.

When the boys noticed their presence, Darrick and Rhett seemed insistent on dragging Albus and Scorpius over to where the girls were sitting and so all of the boys picked up their heavily laden plates – as they were against leaving them behind – and their school bags and sat down next to the girls. "Good morning girls." Rhett said cheerfully, looking at Bianca in particular.

They each greeted the boys in turn and then began to fill their own plates with some of the various dishes in front of them.

Jacquelyn leant over and whispered in Bianca's ear in a hushed voice "I meant to ask either at the feast or later last night but I didn't get a chance to. Are you part Veela by any chance? The other girls think so too but we all weren't certain."

"I'm a full-blooded Veela. The first that has been at Hogwarts as far as I am aware though." Bianca replied.  
"Oh wow. I wouldn't have guessed that, that's really cool. I can't wait to see all the guys here when you get to your 'full inheritance' at 16. It will be so funny. You probably won't get a moments peace though." Jacquelyn said.  
"I know. I'm kinda glad that my brothers will be in their 6th year when I turn 16. So hopefully they will work as an incentive to leave me alone." Said Bianca.  
"Well that is useful. Who are your brothers? What house are they in?" Jacquelyn asked.  
"Their names are Lorcan and Lysander. They are twins. Lorcan is a Gryffindor and Lysander is a Ravenclaw" answered Bianca.  
"That's unusual. For one thing twins are almost always in the same house. And families most of the time are as well but all three of you are in different houses. Also they must be Veelas as well right? So you aren't the only pure Veela." Said Jacquelyn confused.  
"No, they aren't Veela. I'm adopted, so that makes the different houses thing make a bit more sense." Bianca said.

At that moment Professor Lima came over to their group and proceeded to hand out their timetables. He told them as he did so that he was their head of house, if they had been so inattentive the previous evening to not listen to him saying so before.

Bianca read her schedule - which seemed pretty standard and wasn't completely different from what she was expecting, from what she remembered of her brothers' tales.

Monday: Double Charms – Break – Transfiguration – Lunch – Herbology  
Tuesday: Defence Against the Dark Arts – Free – Break – Potions – Lunch – Transfiguration  
Wednesday: Double Herbology – Break – Charms – Lunch – Defence Against the Dark Arts  
Thursday: Double History of Magic – Break – Transfiguration – Lunch – Potions  
Friday: Potions – Defence Against the Dark Arts – Break – History of Magic – Lunch – Free

On Tuesdays she had a flying lesson at 3:30. And on Fridays she had Astronomy at midnight – which Bianca didn't look forward to having to get up for.

It said for each subject which other house would be in the same lesson as the Slytherins.  
They were paired with Gryffindor for Defence Against the Dark Arts (DADA) and Charms.  
With Ravenclaw for Potions, History of Magic, Flying and Astronomy.  
And with Hufflepuff for Herbology and Transfiguration.

After taking a few minutes to look at their timetables and discuss some of the subjects, the bell rang – signalling that they should head towards their lesson.  
So Bianca led the way out of the great hall towards their first ever Charms lesson.

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**AN: Sorry for the late update, and it looks like I was a bit too overly ambitious with the four day updates. So I'm going to update once a week now. Apologies for any confusion. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's**

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As Bianca left the Charms classroom after 2 solid hours, which primarily consisted of lectures about the importance of Charms in everyday life and the basic principles of Charmwork , she decided that Charms – well the theory at least- was rather uninteresting.  
She was just hoping that she would enjoy the practical aspects of the subject more. But then again she didn't suppose that the theoretical parts of any of her subjects would be anywhere near as interesting as the practical side to the class.  
With that thought in mind she reminded herself to keep an open mind about Charms before passing judgment.

By the time that lunch came around, Bianca had found that her Transfiguration lesson had passed in an almost identical way to that of Charms.

When she entered the great hall with the steady stream of students returning from lessons alongside her, she went over to the Slytherin table once more – joining Moria and Jacquelyn where they sat.

"Hey guys, sorry I missed you after class. I was just trying to catch up with Neal but I couldn't find him. I think I'll walk to Herbology with him after lunch though. Hope you guys don't mind?" said Bianca.

"Na, it's okay Bianca. Don't worry about it." Moria said. She winked and said "I suppose it was due to that fan club of yours that you didn't manage to talk to Neal."

Bianca blushed slightly and purposely ignored Moria's words by turning her attention to her food instead.

"That's a yes then. You know I think I lost count Moria, how many boys have offered to accompany dear Bianca to her classes or show her around the castle now?" Jacquelyn said grinning at both of the girls.

"Hmm, I'm not sure but about a dozen or so I believe. And in under a day too, boy you sure do make an impression. Fast work there, darling" Moria teased light-heartedly, as Lavina and Nina entered the hall and sat down with them.

"Well I must say that the constant droning on and on about the importance of hard work etc. wasn't as exciting as I imagined our first lessons to be." Nina said, looking disappointed.

All of the girls agreed with that, and Bianca was keen to keep the conversation away from the subject of her 'fanclub' – as the girls put it – and so began saying how she wished the practical lessons would be more interesting.

Noticing that lunch was over half way through and that they only had about 15 minutes before their Herbology lesson, Bianca said goodbye to her house mates and went over to the Hufflepuff table to find Neal.

He was sitting with two other boys who she recognized as being in the same year as her and Neal from their shared Transfiguration lesson previously.

When she had seated herself down opposite to Neal, she was receiving a number of confused and surprised looks from the other students around her. Bianca supposed that a Slytherin coming and sitting at the Hufflepuff table wasn't a frequent occurrence in the castle, not with the still present house rivalry. The fact that lots of Slytherins were being shunned and targeted by some of the other houses – due to their house's involvement in the war - didn't help the rivalry.

Bianca hoped and suspected that Albus' presence in Slytherin house would help their reputation, as the son of the Boy-Who-Lived, Saviour of the Wizarding world couldn't be evil or dark. In terms of house unity the Weasley/Potter family had people who either were or are currently in every house of Hogwarts – which is a good sign for a possible resolution of the rivalries.

"Hi Neal, what lesson did you guys have first this morning?" Said Bianca, appearing to take no notice of the other's surprise.

"Hey Bianca, it was quite good. We had double Defence against the Dark Arts, which was interesting even if we didn't really get to do very much today." Neal replied

The boys sitting either side of Neal turned towards hi in shock that he clearly knew Bianca.  
"Oh yeah, sorry guys. Bianca this is Phillip and Nicholas – they are two of my dorm mates." He said as he indicated the two brunette boys in turn. "And guys, this is Bianca. She's an old family friend."

Both of the boys half smiled at her, and too nervous to look up at her properly, simply muttered greetings in her direction.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you both." Said Bianca, she turned to Neal and said "And Neal I know what you mean, I had double Charms first and there wasn't really much we were allowed to do. I suppose all the teachers are afraid we will end up blowing up a classroom or something."

"Ha yeah, that could be it. Well hopefully we'll avoid that. I don't particularly want to be blown up." Neal remarked.

Bianca said "Wouldn't really be that fun, now would it. Anyway as lunch is almost over, do you want to walk to Herbology together? As I haven't really had a chance to talk to since the train ride yesterday. I do hope you didn't mind me not joining you in Transfiguration by the way; I had promised to sit with my housemates after I sat with Liam in Charms instead of them."

"I'd be happy to walk with you and of course I didn't mind. It makes sense to get to know the people you are going to be living with and sharing classes with for the next 7 years."

And with this reassuring statement Neal and Bianca got up and grabbed their bags headed out of the great hall outside toward the greenhouses after saying goodbyes to Neal's roommates.

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**AN: Reached 1,000 views! Thanks so much for bothering to read this. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's**

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"So, what is the Hufflepuff common room like? And whereabouts is it?" asked Bianca, as they walked towards the greenhouses.

"Well, as I am sure you know, we aren't meant to say exactly where it is. Revealing house secrets to the 'enemies' as it were. But we are in the basement near the kitchens, which will probably come in handy for snacks in future. And it's nice, lots of yellow and black, it's really comfortable. Everyone was really nice as well, to be expected I suppose." Neal replied.

"I never really thought of Hufflepuff as secretive before, aren't you all meant to be honest? And are you sure that your house mascot, or symbol, truly is a badger and not a bumblebee with all that yellow and black?" Bianca said grinning, as they stopped in front of the greenhouses – waiting for the other students to arrive.

"I do hope that you aren't teasing my son now Bianca." said Professor Longbottom – also known as Neville to Bianca and as Dad to Neal – as he came out of the greenhouse directly in front of them which was labelled 'Greenhouse 1'.

Putting on her best innocent look, Bianca said sweetly "Of course not, Professor. I would never do such a thing, the very thought of it is simply shocking.

As this, Professor Longbottom merely chuckled in response. And he told them that they would be working in Greenhouse 1 for the rest of the year and that they could head inside the Greenhouse now, while he waited outside to welcome the other students as they all arrived from lunch. They were warned not to disturb the plants and to be careful of any that they touch.

As while Greenhouse 1 was the least dangerous of all of the Hogwarts greenhouses, it did still contain some mildly harmful plants.  
Thankfully Neal reassured Bianca that most of the plants were completely harmless and that he knew all of those that weren't quite so harmless.  
Her fears reduced somewhat Bianca happily followed Neal into the greenhouse.

It was a spacious room with a large wooden table down the centre of the room with wide counters lining the walls. There were plants on almost every surface and vines hanging down from the ceiling and growing up the walls.  
Bianca thought that the greenhouses, more than anything else at Hogwarts that she had already encountered, was truly magical.

After what seemed to Bianca as perhaps one minute yet was truly about 10 minutes, the other students joined them in the Greenhouse. And once everyone had arrived, the lesson began.

Professor Longbottom was attempting to get a sense of the classes' current knowledge of the plants and of Herbology in general by carrying out a quiz.  
Bianca was pleased to discover that she was a near equal to Neal in knowledge and that they both were – currently at least – far better at Herbology than the rest of their classmates.  
She did suppose that it was hardly unexpected as her parents' expeditions and research taught her a lot – while they were primarily about magical creatures plants did feature in some at least partially.

And Neal was certain to have been taught lots about the subject from his father, along with the likelihood that he might have inherited his father's affinity with flora – a possibility which now seemed to be correct.

The lesson that followed on from this quiz passed all too quickly for Bianca and she soon found herself packing up her bag once more and walking back towards her common room with her housemates.

Not long after the nine Slytherins had split off from the rest of their classmates in their journey towards the dungeons, Darrick was continuing to insist that it was only right for him to carry Bianca's bag for her.

Well aware of the other girls finding the situation very entertaining Bianca repeated her refusal once more, saying "Thank you Darrick, for your concern. But honestly I am perfectly capable to carrying my bag myself. It honest isn't too heavy. After all you have you own belongings to carry; it would be unreasonable for me to give you mine as well."  
He then fell silent, clearly attempting and failing to think of some way in which to gain Bianca's gratitude – finally realising how opposed she was to allowing him to do things for her, such as carry her bags.

Bianca simply carried on her way back to the common room and rolled her eyes at Darrick's antics – making the girls laugh at her obvious exasperation.  
Upon reaching the correct stretch of wall, Bianca recited the password and then they all followed her into their common room.

They managed to find an unoccupied corner to the large room in which to seat themselves, and then did so.  
Moria said "Well, I am grateful that we weren't assigned lot of homework on our first day. I believe that all we have to do is read a chapter or two in three of our textbooks."

"Yeah you are right, it could have been a lot worse. It's only chapters 1 and 2 for each Charms and Transfiguration with chapter 1 for Herbology." Said Albus

"We should probably read the Transfiguration chapters now if possible, as they are due tomorrow" Scorpius spoke up.

Somewhat unwillingly, they all accepted the logic of this plan – even if the concept of simply doing nothing was far more desirable and tempted than actually doing any work was. And so they each retrieved their 'Guide to Transfiguration' book and opened it up at the first chapter. They all lapsed into silence as they read, this quiet only being disturbed by the occasional rustling cause by the turning of a page.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's**

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The next few days passed in a blur of lessons and various essays and before Bianca had noticed the time passing by, the week had finished and the weekend had begun.

She took this free time as an opportunity to explore the castle some more and to visit her friends in other houses – as while she did share classes with the other houses, the rest of her time was primarily spent in her common room. Also this meant that she had had virtually no contact with her friends in older years – as none of them were in her house, so she didn't even have the chance to speak to them at meal times.

So she was pleased when Louis intercepted her on her way towards the Slytherin table with her housemates as usual, and instead dragged her over to the Ravenclaw table to sit beside his friends with him – clearly having had the same thoughts as Bianca about not seeing them all enough.

"We are all going to meet at the black lake after breakfast. I take it you are willing to join us?" Louis said hopefully.

"Yeah, sounds fun. And by 'We' you are referring to whom?" said Bianca, smiling.

"Us and the usual Weasley/Potter etc. group I should think. You know, Rose, Roxanne, Freddie, James, Neal, Leah, Grace, Cara, Adelle, Jasper, Molly, Shane, your brothers, Liam, Albus, Victore and Dom." He replied. "Wow. When you list it out like that I realise just how many of us there are. And that is only the ones currently at Hogwarts. I kinda feel sorry for the teachers now."

"Honestly, I have lost the ability to pity them after the amount of work they give us. And yeah, there are quite a few of us all." Bianca said. She then finished the last of her breakfast and said "Louis, ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just grab my stuff and we'll head off." He said, and nodded to Sofia and Karl – who were sitting beside them - saying "I'll see you guys later then."

They then both walked up past the long tables, out of the hall and onto the grounds outside. Reaching the black lake, they could see the outlines of a small group of students already seated by the side of the lake. As they neared the group, they recognized Leah, Grace, Cara and Victore lounging on the grass – waiting for the others to arrive from breakfast and join them.

Seeing them approaching, Leah called out "Hey guys."

This made the other three sit up and notice them both.

"Hi Vic, Cara, Grace … and Leah, of course. Not too much work to do on such a day I hope?" Said Louis cheerfully.

"Oh far too much for any day, no matter how nice the weather and company may be. Sadly for us, it seems. But Vic has it the worst, what with it being her last final year. I don't envy you at all, Vic. I'm truly dreading next year. I fear we will be forced to become social pariahs and miss all the entertainments." Replied Cara, mournfully.

"Oi! I'm not a social pariah, thank you very much Cara. Despite the rather insane workload, I still have time for you lot, don't I?" Vic said.

"Yeah, well it's only the first week. In a couple of months, you shall be barricaded up in the library constantly. You'll lose that French tan you got over summer from being locked away." Said Grace, teasingly.

Bianca zoned out the sound of Vic's outraged response, and a few minutes went by before their bickering was interrupted by the presence of a group of second years joining them. Looking up at Freddie, James and her brother, Lorcan, Bianca said grinning "Got into any trouble yet boys?"

"Not yet Bi, but don't you worry. We have something big planned." Replied Freddie, smirking.

"Oh good, I was looking out for something at the Sorting Ceremony though." She challenged.

"Are you insulting our pranking skills, dear sister?" Lorcan asked.

"Not at all, brother. Simply suggesting possible future improvements, after all we must welcome the new students in properly. It would be a shame to miss such an opportunity, especially as they won't have had a chance to hear of your reputation, as it were, yet." Bianca said.

"Hmm, you may have a point there. That could become a pretty good tradition." James wondered, and the three boys excused themselves from the others and began discussing ideas for future pranks in hushed voices.

Bianca noticed that a few more of their group had arrived and were chatting to Louis.

She called out "Oi! Dom! I see you have finally dragged yourself away from your food and decided to grace us common folk with your presence." As she walked the few meters between her and where Louis, Dom, Molly, Adelle and Jasper were standing.

"Awh, sorry to keep you waiting love. Hope you weren't missing me too terribly." Dom said.

"I just about survived, but it was tough." Bianca replied and swooned theatrically, making them all laugh at her dramatics.

The rest of the morning passed peacefully, the remaining missing members of the group arrived not long after Dom, Molly, Adelle and Jasper had.  
And they all passed the time rather merrily with various banter and teasing passing back and forth between them all. It wasn't until someone pointed out that fact that it was rapidly approaching lunch that they all decided to move from their spot by the lake.

Once their rather large group had entered the great hall, they chose to stay together as opposed to splitting up and spreading across the four house tables as per usual. So they all sat themselves at the Gryffindor table - due to the fact that the majority of them were in Gryffindor, like most of their parents had been before them.

As it was just seven people out of their group of nineteen weren't in Gryffindor house. Those remaining were three of Ravenclaw - Louis, Rose and Lysander - two of Hufflepuff - Neal and Jasper - and two of Slytherin - Albus and Bianca.

This unusual seating arrangement did attract attention towards their group, who were all crowded around the middle of the Gryffindor table – and they were making the usually noisy table become even more so.

But they were for once glad of their joint almost celebrity status within the school, for today it meant that they weren't being harassed for sitting together in such a way. As nobody had the courage to try to take on the popular group in order to reprimand them. And when one teacher did approach the members of other houses within their group and suggest that they returned to their house table, they all simply justified their actions in the name of promoting and encouraging house unity – something that a teacher could hardly discourage or punish them for in any way.

So they were pretty much left alone, aside from a few students who were sitting near them either in an attempt to eavesdrop on their conversations or to try to join in.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Everything else is J.K Rowling's**

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_The 31st of October - The Halloween Feast_

As per tradition this Halloween, as on each and every Halloween before, the entire school and staff were congregated in the Great Hall for the feast. Bianca was sure that this would be the setting for the 'Something big' that Freddie had mentioned previously and so was keenly observing those around her and the food in particular for any signs of a prank.

When they all were in the middle of their meal, and for Bianca at least the suspense and almost foreboding had built up, a noise could be heard from outside the hall.

Whatever it was, was gradually and steadily increasing in volume and sounded as though it was approaching the hall from some distance away.

It built up until it was a loud thundering threatening to beat down the great oak doors between it and the students.

By this point all of the occupants of the hall, particularly the younger students, were looking around uneasily and nervously.

They all jumped with fright when the doors loudly banged open, revealing as they did so exactly what had been creating such a noise. It was the Headless Hunt. Who charged in on ghostly phantom horses floating through the air. Each of whom had their heads tucked under the crook of their arms - for safe keeping Bianca supposed, as it wouldn't be wise to lose your head in such a literal manner - and what appeared to be a polo mallet in the other hand.

Their reason for their abrupt and rather loud departure from Nearly Headless Nick's death day party in the dungeons was clear when noticing that Peeves had in fact taken it upon himself to steal the head of the ghost in charge of the Headless Hunt.

The ghost in question, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore was seemingly and rather unsurprisingly outraged at this act. And shouts of anger could be heard loudly issuing from the head that Peeves held, as well as demands to be returned to his body at once.

Cackling as he did so, Peeves responded to these demands - and the unspoken yet clear threats from the rest of the Headless Hunt behind their leader - by zooming underneath the Ravenclaw table, passing the Headless Hunt as he left eh Great Hall.

In doing so, he caused the students seated at the Ravenclaw table to leap up in shock and knock most of the things on the table over and onto the floor - a number of students managed to fall backwards off of the benches and join the various goblets now strune on the floor.

As soon as Peeves had left once more the Headless Hunt left in pursuit of him again and a number to teachers and other ghosts following the strange parade in attempts to diffuse the situation before any more damage could be caused by it.

The silent hall almost immediately burst into loud chatter about what had just happened. Bianca looked over at the boys who were surely responsible for hits; they were seated at the Gryffindor table and were all laughing at everyone's reactions.

James caught Bianca's look at them, nudged the other two, and they managed to discretely stand up from their house table and gave a bow in her direction. They all then returned to their seats and looked incredibly smug whenever they overheard someone commenting upon how cool the display had been.

Rolling her eyes at them Bianca turned back towards her housemates, but she did have to admit to herself that their prank had been pretty good and was certainly very original. She thought to herself that they were lucky that Peeves would end up taking all of the blame, as it wasn't unusual for him to do such things simply for the fun of it, as otherwise they would get in extreme amounts of trouble - even by their skewed standards.

During the commotion caused by the ghosts dessert led had been served by the house elves down in the kitchens - as they were clearly and unsurprisingly unaware of the events happening in the hall above their heads.

Seeing this, Bianca dug into the various puddings in front of her. After a minute or two or relishing having all of them to herself while her housemates remained oblivious in their conversations to the desserts before them, she told them all that the puddings were there if they were interested. They all then joined her in devouring them greedily.

Once the desserts disappeared, all of the students vacated the house tables and they all slowly made their way back to each of the individual house common rooms. At times like these Bianca was very glad that she was a Slytherin for she did truly pity Louis, Rose and all of the other Ravenclaw students who had to walk the furthest to their place in Ravenclaw tower and to travel up such a large number of stairs as well. Must be annoying to say the very least, Bianca thought.

Upon reaching and entering her common room, Bianca and her roommates bid the boys a good night and both groups retreated to their dormitories for bed.

"Night girls. Hopefully every feast isn't as eventful as this one was." Said Jacquelyn.

"Night" they all chorused in reply, then laughed at the unplanned synchronization.

The next morning, both her roommates and a number of her close family friends were plotting and scheming about the various plans laid out for tomorrow.

For the very next day was Bianca's birthday, and it was one of the very first in the school year. The fact that it was currently a Friday morning did manage to put a damper somewhat on their planning.

As when they all remembered that they did actually have lessons to get to, they had to quickly get ready and to class before they all became late.

By that evening Bianca had witnessed enough of their hushed and whispered conversations, that were stopped as soons as she approached, to make her suspicious of the events planned for her birthday.

She had been hoping that they wouldn't make a big deal out of her birthday again - for she had enjoyed the much more subdued nature of her birthday celebrations the previous year. As it was just with her parents as they were in france at the time and her brothers were away at Hogwarts.

Saly that was simply wishful thinking for not only does the Weasley/Potter clan love doing big parties but as there are quite so many of them it does end up becoming one of the biggest parties of the year.

Bianca was simply holding onto one hope at this point; that her 'fan club' wasn't invited. As it was she was already dreading them giving her presents or other declarations of affection the next day.

Leaving them all to continue their planning, unhindered by her presence, Bianca went down the corridor to her dorm. After changing into her nightgown and unbraiding her hair, she got into bed. Grabbing her wand from it's place upon her bedside table she whispered "Nox." and went to sleep.

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**AN: Merry Christmas! So sorry this was quite so late, been rather busy and dealing with lack of internet connection. **

**I tried to think of a prank that wasn't used everywhere so yeah. Hope you like it. Thanks for reading x **


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